More political stories from NPR member station reporters will find their way to NPR broadcasts under a new partnership focused on the 2016 presidential campaign.
“Our main goal here is to bring Member station stories to a larger, national audience and help stations deepen their own political coverage — something we know public media audiences crave,” said Brett Neely, NPR’s local partnerships editor, in an email.
The network began the partnership with reporters at 17 member stations in August. The reporters will work with NPR through the end of the 2016 presidential election.
NPR has asked the reporters to pitch local angles to focus their election coverage. They’ll cover topics such as the role of Latino voters nationwide, spending by outside political groups in North Carolina and alleged flaws in Florida’s voting system, said Neely. Their reports are here.
Reporters will be paid as freelancers and work on initiative stories on a part-time basis.
The participating reporters are Renata Sago, WMFE, Orlando, Fla; Patrick Madden, WAMU, Washington, D.C.; Megan Verlee and Ben Markus, Colorado Public Radio; Clay Masters, Iowa Public Radio; Brady Carlson, NHPR, Concord, N.H.; Jude Joffe-Block, KJZZ, Phoenix, Ariz.; Tom Bullock, WFAE, Charlotte, N.C.; Ashley Lopez, WFPL, Louisville, Ky.; Ben Adler, Capital Public Radio, Sacramento, Calif.; Dave Davies, WHYY, Philadelphia, Pa.; Nick Castele, WCPN, Cleveland; Chas Sisk, WPLN, Nashville, Tenn.; Elle Moxley, KCUR, Kansas City, Mo.; Ben Phillpott, KUT, Austin, Texas; Gigi Douban, WBHM, Birmingham, Ala.; M.L. Schultze, WKSU, Kent, Ohio; and Matt Katz, WNYC, New York City.
Update: This post was updated to include Markus from CPR.